Only Viridian
by TraipsingExodus
Summary: Sinnohans had long been banned from entering Kanto, and every Ranger swore to uphold the laws of their region and maintain Kanto's position as a bastion against degeneracy. Uncertainty plagues Taro as he breaks these laws - all to deliver Kiyoko into the heart of the region he swore to defend from her ilk.
1. Chapter 1

This is what border control was. What border patrol was. It was two men standing at a traffic gate. Trading positions in the glorified toll booth every hour. Talking about nothing. Bemoaning the lots their deployment had cast for them. Bemoaning the upcoming hourly patrol of the sixteen kilometer stretch of worthless land they'd be assigned. Patrolling that sixteen kilometer patch of land. Checking sensors. Clearing errors, obstructions, nature itself. It was finding nothing. It was going back to the glorified toll booth and reporting an all clear. Just like yesterday. Just like last week. Just like last month.

It was that. Again. And again. And again.

Taro sighed and looked over at Hayate; his partner was slumped over in his stool, napping, instead of checking a suite of monitors and listening to an open channel for any updates from an adjoining station - of course, none ever came.

"Hey! Hayate!" called out Taro. He stood and strode over to the booth and rapped his knuckles sharply against the glass. "Wake up," he added, "The security of all of Kanto is at stake here and you're napping." He suppressed a smirk.

His partner stopped snoring and raised his head slowly, yawning all the while. "Oh, forgive me, I nearly forgot, I have to help hold back the tide of degenerate Sinnohans that are just waiting for us to slip up and run through," he mumbled sleepily. He sat up and stretched. "Fuck me man, I thought Rangers had a pretty good gig running for them, instead we've got this shit. Watch this patch of dirt and trees. Patrol this patch of dirt and trees. Look at this huge fence we erected. Look at these fancy cameras and sensors and psionic detection arrays and ectoplasmic interference antennae and blah, blah, blah." He turned to the array of monitors in front of him and scanned them, eyes glazed over. "Nothing ever happens, unless you count that group of Trainers from Johto that passed through," he added, disappointed, as he stood up from his stool and leaned against the wall of his booth.

Taro nodded and leaned a shoulder against the door frame of the booth and looked about its gray interior. He felt sleepy just looking at it. "Honestly, I was kind of hoping one of them were from Sinnoh," he admitted.

"What? Why? You wanna turn someone away from the region that badly?" came the reply from his partner.

"Nah, that's boring. I just want to know why they're even trying to get through. The law's clear as can be. It's not like the government was tight-lipped about all the measures they put up to keep them out of the region," he reasoned. "So I figure, hey, something must be making you desperate to even try, right?" He pulled the pistol from his holster and racked the slide back far enough to check for a round in the chamber. Satisfied, he pulled the magazine out and ran his eyes across the neatly stacked bullets. With a snap he drove the mag home again and holstered the pistol.

Instinct at this point – routine check performed every hour, but after the hundredth time it became quite clear to Taro that the bullet wasn't going anywhere until next month, when his deployment ended and he'd spend a fair chunk of his time in target practice. Evidently, the trees were becoming particularly unruly along Kanto's borders and the Rangers' collective accuracy was not up to par.

"When's the next patrol?" he asked after a long silence. It took less than three days for all sense of awkwardness to vanish from these pauses. He and Hayate had reached a mutual understanding that there were going to be a great deal of them.

Hayate checked his watch. "Hm, 'nother thirty minutes maybe?" he replied. He shrugged and looked out the window of the booth down the long, tree-lined path that led up to the gate. "Give or take, who cares? There won't be anything. We could skip it and it wouldn't make a difference."

With a sigh and shake of his head, Taro said, "No. We're not skipping a patrol, no matter how boring and useless they are."

His partner let out a groan and threw his hands up in exasperation. "Oh come on," he whined, dragging out the last word, "These patrols suck. Most of the other ranger stations don't bother with 'em anymore. Least, not as much as they should anyway. But no, we've got you and your by-the-books ass right here goin', No Hayate, we've been given a set of duties and we will complete them." He crossed his arms. "S'fuckin' boring man."

Taro walked away from the booth and leaned against the mechanized sliding fence. "Doesn't matter, they're not patrolling an actual route into and out of Kanto," he called back to his friend. He was surprised however, at how little traffic a checkpoint so close to the 22/23/26/28 four-way junction saw. He looked about – high tree density, clean breezes, sitting in a natural valley; the entire route was picturesque, he would have expected picnickers or something. Then again, he was already tired of the scenery, maybe everyone nearby was too. He shook has head. No, there were far better reasons for this desolate road.

They, like most everything that seemed to be creating tension these days, were wrapped up in politics. His mind lingered for a moment on a close classmate that had moved out to Goldenrod. Nothing she told him over their infrequent phone calls pointed to a Johto that was particularly happy being a natural neighbor and "younger brother" to Kanto. The region, she told him, saw Kanto as a brother that was a little too happy about dishing out "tough love."

They'd pressed the region into helping solidify anti-Sinnohan policies in this region of the world by "kindly" suggesting a few travel restrictions for Johto to implement. Thoroughly interested in not having to buckle under a few choice trade sanctions that Kanto was just mumbling about, Johto relented. Sinnoh, in response to the increased restrictions on their citizens visiting the region, wasn't pleased; though in comparison to the positively frozen relations between Kanto and Sinnoh, Johto had managed to maintain relatively open (though very cool) relations.

Taro turned from the fence and kicked at the dirt. He didn't agree with the ban that kept all Sinnohans from entering Kanto – but he also didn't disagree with it. His region had presented a good enough case for rejecting entry for residents of the region.

Ancient history, and the Sinnohans got to poking about in it. And then to poking about in something else. And now they were marrying them.

"You think it's true, Hayate?" asked Taro.

Hayate looked taken aback. "What? Of course I think it's true; it's a gigantic waste of time," he replied. The confused look on Taro's face led Hayate into a groan of annoyance. "You weren't listening were you?" he asked. With a sheepish grin of apology, his partner shook his head. "Forget it. If I can't even hold your attention, I'm not going to convince you to give up going on patrols." He pinched the bridge of his nose and then added, "Do I think what's true?"

"Sinnohans are marrying Pokemon," said Taro, "Er, again, too, if those old folk tales have a shred of truth to them. Doesn't make a lick of sense to me." He pointed to Hayate. "Like Aiko. Would you marry that?"

His partner threw his head back in laughter. "Of course they're marrying them man, haven't you seen the pics and vids circulating? Creepy as shit, man," he returned.

"I don't care enough to pry into what's going on over there," reasoned Taro, "It just doesn't interest me. This is my job, so I do it." He gestured at the fence and booth.

"Oh man, just listen to yourself. I mean, Aiko? Man, she's covered in venomous spikes. And scales. Looks cool as shit, but crawling into bed with that is just a death wish man, she's a fucking tank. Cute as a button when she was just a Nidoran though. But I mean, so are Woopers, and they're probably just as toxic too- Hey! Eyes on! We got a live one!" He pointed excitedly out of his booth at a figure that was approaching from down the road.

The figure grew steadily larger, producing the form of a red-haired woman riding atop a Stantler. She waved to Taro as the Stantler cantered up to the gate. "Heya!" she called to him in a cheery tone. She dismounted and strode up to the gate, brushing windswept hair out of her face. "Mind letting me through?" she added.

Taro looked her up and down. There weren't enough people passing through for him to catch Sinnohans on sight alone, if that was even possible. And if she was one, she was very cute. Blame it on the bright green eyes, he thought to himself. He strode to the gate and pointed to a small rectangular opening in the center. "Produce your ID if you're from Johto, else we'll need your regional ID and passport for Unova, Kalos, or Hoenn. Sub-regions will require a properly stamped sub-region passport and two forms of ID," he said automatically. He cleared his throat pointedly and his eyes flickered to the large sign the fence bore marked, "ATTENTION SINNOHAN CITIZENS: TRAVEL INTO KANTO IS PROHIBITED BY KANTO LAW."

Her eyes widened and she began to rummage in the bag at her side. "Sorry, sorry, I wasn't prepared ahead of time," she said quickly, "Um, here, this should be it." She produced an ID card and handed it to Taro through the opening.

"Thank you ma'am, I'll process it and have this gate open for you when it clears," he responded dully. He strode over to Hayate and handed him the card. "Punch it through," he muttered, "Gonna be another typical day I think."

Hayate took the card absently and said slyly, "Cute, ain't she? Wonder where in Johto she's from. Some mountain town? Got skin like snow." He slid the card through a reader and then pressed it into a slot. "Nice rack too- What the?" With a whir and the quiet buzz of alarm, the slot reader pulled the card completely in and then ejected it, shredded lengthwise. A monitor flickered red and then the words, "FORGERY DETECTED AND DESTROYED. DATE AND TIME LOGGED."

"That was a convincing forgery" said Taro, "Someone in Johto is getting rather rich I'd say." He glanced at the visitor – she was busy patting the Stantler on the side of its neck. "Either way, she didn't notice. Be on guard, we don't know if how she'll react to the news. Let's go." Hayate nodded and strode back to the waiting would-be visitor, who turned away from the Stantler and gave them a cheery smile.

"Heya! The gate didn't open," she said, "Something wrong?"

"Where'd you catch that Stantler at?" asked Hayate, leaning a shoulder against the gate.

The guest looked between the two Rangers, confused, and said, "Uh, near Ecruteak, why?"

"Done your homework, have you?" he replied. "Sorry you came all the way out here just to get turned away. You'll have some warm company for the way back at least, right? Sinnohan." He lingered on the last word and pulled away from the gate.

The woman's face hardened. "I'm not from Sinnoh; I gave you my Johto ID. Which, by the way, you haven't given back to me," she said, holding out her hand.

Taro handed the shredded ID card back to the woman. "Sorry, we ran the ID through our system and the reader spat this back out. It's a forgery," he explained.

She looked shocked. "It has to be some kind of mistake," she said, "I'm just trying to visit my grandmother in Viridian, she's ill and I'd rather not find out she died while I was held up at a gate by some Rangers with a faulty PC. I had that ID issued in Goldenrod, it can't be a fake!"

With a sigh, Hayate made for his booth. "Take care of this Taro, I'm going to fire a report back to HQ," he mumbled, "And use the latrine while I'm at it." Taro waved him off.

"Look ma'am, I understand you're upset, but I'm not letting you through. You know the legislation as well as I do, I'm sure it was publicized a considerable amount back in Sinnoh," he explained. "Save it," he added, when she opened her mouth in outrage, "You're not getting through. I was given clear orders, and sob stories do not fall under their purview."

The Sinnohan clenched her hands around sections of the chain link fence. "Listen," she hissed, "Sinnohan or not, my grandmother is actually ill and I'd like to see her before she dies. For the love of Arceus, just let me through; I'm going what, a three day walk away from the border to Viridian City? Then leaving after I stay with her for a night." She shook the fence slightly. "Please. You can accompany me if you want."

Taro's hand went instinctively for his gun. "Sorry to hear that ma'am, but I must ask you to move away from the fence and not attempt to topple it," he commanded, "And either way, I'm not letting you through. I am here to enforce the law, not help a poor soul break it."

She let go of the fence and ruffled her hair in anger. "Fine," she spat, "Fine." She threw her hair out of her face and returned to her Stantler.

Taro watched her mount it and canter away. It was a shame, she really was beautiful.

"Probably the most excitement we'll see for the next few months," he muttered. He turned back to look for Hayate in the booth, and upon seeing it still empty smirked. "I'm not cleaning the latrine if you ruin it," he mumbled to himself. He strode into the booth and checked the monitors, then the road again. His heart skipped a beat. "Oh, no no nonono FUCK," he shouted as a far more unusually shaped figured tore through the sliding gate. The woman and the Bastiodon she was riding came to a stop in the door of the booth, where the tremendous head of the Bastiodon almost completely blocked the threshold. Taro drew his gun and aimed it at the Bastiodon. It stared back at him with lazy eyes and yawned. "Confident, aren't we?" he said.

"Luxray! We're getting out of here!" came the voice of the Sinnohan from behind the Bastiodon. A loud cry rose in the air alongside the sound of a pokeball opening and producing its contents. Lighter footfalls than the Bastiodon's sprinted off, presumably into the woods, and Taro managed to catch the woman cry out, "Return!" The Bastiodon blinked at Taro and dematerialized.

Fortunately, the red beam had now become a fleeting contrail for him to follow, and so he tossed a pokeball into the air, producing the majestic form of a Rapidash. He mounted it and squeezed its midsection with his legs. "Shohei, into the woods, we're following that Luxray," he said to it. The Rapidash reared back and then launched itself into the forest.

It was now that the monotony of his post came to his aid – he'd been in these woods, traveled these woods, shit in these woods, and now he was going to track in these woods. Tare allowed himself a smirk. Perhaps he should have thought better of his wish.

The forest was thick, but not too thick that he couldn't take advantage of Shohei's speed, though he felt trees brush uncomfortably against the arms of his jacket at times. He wheeled his head about constantly, ears straining to hear the Luxray sprinting away from them over the sounds of trees whizzing by and the loud gallop of his Rapidash. He could only just manage to make it out, but it was growing stronger.

The Sinnohan ruffled the side of her Luxray's neck as they sped through the trees. "Good thing you see through these things right?" she cooed. With split-section decision making out of the way, all the Pokemon had to focus on was taking the most winding path through the trees in an effort to throw off the Ranger. The gallops that had been following behind them were getting louder, and so she added, "They're catching up. Take as winding a path as you can, as fast as you can, alright?" The Luxray gave a grunt of affirmation and began to weave more erratically through the trees.

Meanwhile, Taro cursed his partner's bowels. He and Hayate were assigned complimentary Pokemon – Hayate's pidgeot, Takuya, could cover huge amounts of ground quickly, get close to runners and allow Taro to track the bird down using a GPS device and a band wrapped around Takuya's leg. Without the pair, however, the going was significantly tougher than it should have been. He kept his eyes trained on the ground - blurred prints zipped by him, confirming that they were still on the right path. Once or twice, he swore he saw the figure of the Sinnohan in the distance. A realization struck him. "Ease up," he called down to Shohei over the din, "We're coming up on the cliff." The Rapidash's pace slowed to a canter, and Taro drew his pistol. He scanned the forest about him - the footfalls were growing fainter, but that would matter very little in a moment's time. "This way, keep following the prints and broken twigs."

The Luxray came to a halt at a cliffside that overlooked a huge section of forest and a small river a hundred or so feet below them. "Well this is a problem," mumbled the fugitive, "See anywhere we can get down?" The Pokemon's eyes flashed as it glanced about the area. It bowed its head and whined. "Damn. We've gotta figure something out." She wheeled the Luxray around and was met with the Ranger she'd been running from emerging from the forest.

"That's far enough I think," called out Taro. Shohei came to a halt and snorted as Taro dismounted. "Get that Luxray back in its ball. If you comply I'll have you back across the border instead of what protocol dictates," he continued. He gestured meaningfully at the Luxray with his pistol and then trained the gun back on the Sinnohan.

She didn't budge. "What does 'protocol dictate' then? Shooting me?" she retorted.

Taro sighed and launched into an explanation, "No, protocol dictates I take you in, restrain you - which I'll have to do anyway so you don't pull something dangerous, sorry - take you back to the station, call in the breach, and hand you over to veteran Rangers responsible for delivering you to the Viridian Branch Ranger Station. You'll be processed there, slapped with a heavy fine, and detained until we finish working out your deportation and contacting your home region - you're usually then deported straight there. Unless it's a determined repeat offender."

"Wait, what happens to repeat offenders?" she replied, distracted.

He paused and considered the girl. "Not worth my job. Need-to-know only, and you sure as hell don't need to know." He pointed the pistol at the Luxray again and commanded, "Now get off that damn thing, stick it back in its ball and come quietly. The last thing you want is to pay one of those fines." He pointed in the direction of the tremendous fence that now lined much of Kanto's borders and added, "How else do you think we're paying off that thing? It wasn't cheap, and your fine is going to make you seriously reconsider having been stupid enough to try to breach the border in the first place. I'm doing you a favor, so just come on."

The Sinnohan bit her thumb pensively and then glanced down at the Luxray. It turned its head towards her and let out a soft growl. She nodded. "No, no, I don't think so. I'll take my chances," she said at last. "Jump for it Luxray!" The Pokemon wheeled about and threw itself from the cliff towards the river below.

"No! Damn it, what is wrong with you?" shouted Taro. He ran up to the edge of the cliff and saw the two splash into the water. "Shohei, we need to get down there," he shouted at his Pokemon. It cantered up to him and he mounted it. "Absolutely insane, that river's like three feet deep."

Below, the Luxray crumpled into the riverbed amid a loud howl of pain and ominous cracking sounds. The water felt like concrete to the Sinnohan; she had lost her hold of the Pokemon a dozen or so feet from the water as they fell and plunged shoulder first into the shallow river. She felt her right shoulder collide painfully with riverbed and a muffled crack alongside it - the pain alone nearly knocked her out. Coughing and sputtering, she staggered out from the deceptive flow of water and collapsed onto its banks, sharp throbs of pain coursing through her shoulder and arm. Behind her she heard her Luxray howling and splashing in the shallows, trying vainly to make its now useless forelegs cooperate. She raised a shaking arm up and recalled it.

She laid on her back for a moment, each cough and sputter sending more pain through her shoulder. When she'd emptied her lungs of excess water, she prodded her injury lightly with a finger - pain shot through her shoulder again and through grit teeth she yelped. She let her head rest on the bank and looked up at the cliff above her. She wasn't dead at least. A terrible mistake overall, and she'd be caught for sure, but she wasn't dead. She almost chuckled. For all the trouble it caused her, the sound of the river was at least pleasant. Perhaps too pleasant.

* * *

Pain, terrible, blinding pain woke her - something had kicked her shoulder. With a shout she tore her eyes open and saw the Ranger looking down at her with a sour expression. "Don't touch my shoulder!" she shouted, blinking tears back.

Taro sighed. "Not the most intelligent idea there, Sinnohan," he began, "Why would you throw yourself into a river in a place you've never been before?"

With a snarl, the Sinnohan shouted, "I have a name you fuck, it's Kiyoko; you mind calling me by it?" Pained and bitter tears ran down her face. "You ready to take me back? Process me and dump me back in Sinnoh because the idiots sitting around in fancy chairs back in Saffron think we shouldn't be here?"

He looked at her. "Taro," he said at last.

Kiyoko's brow furrowed. "What?" she said.

"My name is Taro. I never asked your name, and I apologize. Honestly didn't think I'd have to, really. It was rude of me in retrospect," he explained. He looked about and clicked his tongue. "Shohei, don't wander too far off, even if there are some berries nearby," he called out. A loud snort came from somewhere in the brush. "Even if they're your favorite." He looked back down at the girl and sighed. "Why are you here?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Are you serious? I'm here to visit my dying grandmother like I said back at the border crossing," explained Kiyoko through grit teeth. "What did you think I was going to do, look at me!" Wit her good arm she gestured up and down her body. "See any room for something suspicious?" At this, her eyes widened. "Oh no, where's my bag?"

Taro looked out at the river. "Gone by now. Took me about ten minutes to get down here," he reasoned. "Unless you had something heavy in it to weigh it down."

"Just clothes," said Kiyoko. "And a charm I had blessed in Celestic…" She laid her head against the riverbank again. Tears rolled down her face. "Well, just take me back I guess. I'm not going to show up empty handed at my grandmother's deathbed when that charm might have saved her. Between that and my screwed up shoulder and my Luxray's broken legs…" She let her head fall to one side. "Just take me back."

Taro considered his options. Cute or not, she wasn't supposed to be here. She'd run from a Ranger, broken Kanto law, destroyed a border checkpoint - but she also threw herself off a cliff in an effort to get a simple charm to her grandmother. Her dying grandmother.

Still, it was just a charm. What could charms really do? Blessings came from mythical Pokemon directly, not from someone that runs a shrine dedicated to one. It meant an awful lot to her though. Enough to give up on trying to get into Viridian at all. Who gives up on seeing their dying grandmother over a charm?

A click in the air. She looked up and saw Taro facing away from her. "Shohei, get back here. We're combing the riverbank for a bag," he called into the brush. A moment later, the Rapidash emerged and rubbed its nose against his arm. "Eat your fill? Or did you gorge yourself like you usually do?" He glanced over his shoulder back at Kiyoko. "Viridian?"

She stared for a moment, and then comprehension dawned on her face. She nodded.

"Try something, we get caught, whatever might compromise my job - you're getting thrown to the houndooms. I'll help, but I'm not losing my livelihood over a pretty face. I'll see to your shoulder when I get back. I can't have you running off on me. Do we have an understanding?" The last words came out at almost a whisper.

Kiyoko closed her eyes and sighed. Her shoulder was busted and her Luxray was crippled. He had a gun, the lay of the land and his training behind him. "Best I can hope for. We do." she said.


	2. Chapter 2

Taro clicked his tongue. "Shohei, I found it, get back here." The Rapidash raised its head from a bush it had started to pluck berries from and snorted in acknowledgment, then made his way over to Taro. He bent over and retrieved Kiyoko's soggy pack from the river bank. It'd taken a little over five minutes to find it - fortunately it had washed ashore before the river broke into two further down, else he may have never found it. He opened the bag up and pulled a sizable quantity of soaking clothes from it along with some bags filled with nuts and dried berries. He pulled a sizable canteen from the bag as well. "Flames off the back and haunches Shohei." instructed Taro, patting each section as he spoke. He began to unfurl the clothing and lay them across Shohei's back. Great clouds of steam rose from the Pokemon's back, and the Rapidash squealed and scratched at the ground with its hoof in annoyance.

"Take it easy Shohei, you'll be alright. Just enough to dry them, you hear me? I'll take them off in a minute or so, just keep that fire off your back." He gave the Rapidash a firm pat on the side of its neck. With a soft snort, Shohei inclined his head then tossed it back, shaking his flaming mane about. "I understand, I understand. It'll just be a few more and the bag itself." He dug about in the bag, searching for the charm and eventually pulled a small shrine-shaped wooden carving looped with a simple piece of black cloth string; a curious symbol in an old script adorned it. He peered at the charm and looked more closely at the symbol etched upon it. "Health." He shook his head and tucked the charm into a pocket on his belt pouch. "I must be going crazy to have decided to this, eh, Shohei?"

With another squeal, the Rapidash reared up, but came back down immediately following Taro's sharp command. "It's just two shirts and underwear left Shohei. Mind yourself too; the last thing we need is to burn them." He draped the bag on the Pokemon's neck and rubbed his cheeks. "Just do this and you can gorge yourself on berries again, alright?" Shohei's ears perked and he nickered. "I thought that'd change your mind." He checked his watch and his eyes widened. "We need to hurry. If they haven't already sent out a search party for me they'll be sending one soon. Can't be near the banks when they show." He pulled the bag and clothing off Shohei and threw the clothes into the bag. He mounted Shohei and gave the Rapidash a pat on the neck. "Let's go." He looked to his left, into the woods. "Through the woods. We'll be leaving tracks either way, but the riverbank will be worse."

Upon his return, he dropped from Shohei and knelt beside Kiyoko, pulling lengths of cloth bandages from the bright red pouch strapped to his thigh. "Your bag, clothing and charm are all safe. A little damp, but safe," he rattled off, "But we need your shoulder in place, the bone set if anything is broken and your shoulder wrapped and immobilized. Now." His tone and motions had become automatic - now was the time for field triage, done in a hurry. He pulled her arm out to the side, ignoring her yelps of pain. "You're lucky you wore a tanktop; won't have to ruin your shirt." He looked down at the red and purple shoulder and traced his eyes across the now outstretched that really showed a fracture in the arm. His eyes flicked back to the shoulder and the telltale bump. "This is going to hurt." He pulled gauze from the red pouch at his leg. "Aah," he instructed. She complied and he stuffed the gauze into her mouth. "Bite. Hard."

He ran his hands up her forearm, pressing firmly inch by inch, checking for signs of fractures. When he reached her humerus, his pace slowed and he pressed firmer still. He made it to her shoulder with little more than small winces and breaths of pain and discomfort from Kiyoko. No fractures it seemed - that would keep things from becoming complicated. She felt his hands grasp her forearm and then felt a foot against her ribcage. Half-formed protests and terror formed in her head in an instant, and a few leaked into her gag, unintelligible. A pop and blinding pain. Her legs thrashed, her good arm thumped her hand into the ground a frenzy and she arched her back. She felt tears running down her scrunched face and let out a long, muffled scream through the gauze and then spit it out. "Please tell me that's it."

He stretched her arm out to her front, out to her side and slowly rotated it in its socket before stretching it up to the sky. "Against all odds, yes. I think it is. How's your upper arm? Other than the pain from moving your shoulder about, any other shooting pains?" he asked.

Kiyoko shook her head. "The shoulder hurts quite a bit but it's way better than it was before. Is that all you had to do?" she asked.

"No, I have to keep the shoulder stable now," he responded. Her eyes flicked to her waist up to her chest to her shoulder and then back to her face. Carefully, he began to wrap the bandages about her upper arm, under her armpits and around her shoulder and across her chest, under her other arm, across her back, over and under, over and under.

"Try not to get the bandages ruined or loosen them. As it stands these wrappings are supposed to go on bare skin, not over clothes but..." He gave her a meaningful look. "Either way, you'll be able to move your shoulder if absolutely necessary but I recommend not doing so for some time. Two weeks and you should be able to do normal activities. A few months for any heavy lifting." He looked about, ears straining to pick up any noise of approaching footsteps or voices calling out.

Her face twisted into a frown. "Two weeks? I've heard of people just sleeping it off and being more or less good to go after a day or two!" She looked at her shoulder and huffed.

Taro helped her to her feet and clicked his tongue. "Yes, and they probably had access to some form of Pokemon-aided healing. Keep your eyes out for a Chansey and your shoulder will be better if we can catch it." Shohei approached the two and he gave the rapidash a pat on its cheek. "Until then, don't do anything stupid." He smirked. "Actually, put your hand on Shohei, then don't do anything stupid. I have to make sure he doesn't burn you. He shouldn't, but we were chasing you for a while so he might have something else in mind.

The redhead's brow scrunched together and she frowned as she looked the rapidash over. "Do I have to?" she asked.

"If you want any chance of getting to Viridian in a reasonable amount of time, yes. Or do you just really like walking?"

Kiyoko pouted. "Fine." She stuck a trembling hand out and gave the Rapidash's neck a careful pat. The creature was pleasantly warm, and Shohei nickered in response.

"Good enough for me," noted Taro, impressed. "He likes you. Guess Hayate was right, Shohei's always had a soft spot for the ladies. Up you get. If we're riding double, you'll be behind me facing backwards. Should be easier on your shoulder and easier for me to guide Shohei." She complied, and he lifted her onto Shohei with little effort and then mounted up. "I should stress how badly doing something stupid while riding something that's on fire will go for you," he called back to her.

Kiyoko hung her head and mumbled, "Right. I'll be good." She leaned against his back and looked up at the canopy as they started to move. A light breeze was ruffling the leaves as they made their way deeper into the forest, and the pleasant sounds of the running stream began to die out.

* * *

Chirps from Pidgeys and Spearows rang out around Kiyoko and roused her. Taro had been quiet the entire ride so far, and it had left her in a constant state of near sleep. She feared falling from the Rapidash, so every time she felt her head sag she slapped herself and sat up, alert - before her head fell forward again and sleep threatened to overtake her. She rubbed her eyes with her good arm and looked around, determined to find a different way to stay awake that didn't depend on force of will and gently savaging her cheeks.

The canopy had thickened. Beams of light broke through every so often, and cast, few as they were, longer shadows across the forest floor. Kiyoko wished she knew how to gauge the relative time of day by the length of shadows; her best guess told her there were still several hours before sundown, but it was only a guess. The last thing she could recall from her drowsy stupor were the trees around her swirling about back and forth without rhyme or reason. She dropped her head against Taro's back and said, voice quiet and raspy, "Thanks."

She felt him perk up and sit up straighter. "I've-" Taro began. He coughed once to clear his throat and started again, "There are a couple of things I could say in response to that, and I'm not sure which to go with." He sighed. "All things considered, I should have patched you up and sent you back across the border on your way." Kiyoko sat up and craned her head around to look at the back of Taro's head, her mouth opening in response. "But that would have been dangerous. Travelling can be dangerous enough as is with two working arms if you're unfamiliar with the area." He paused. "Sending you back is something I couldn't do in good conscience, ban or not." Taro felt he was saying this more to himself than anything - the oppressive silence Kiyoko's slumber left him in had allowed him ample time to think over his decision. Several times.

The Sinnohan turned around and leaned against his back again. "Thank you."

Taro let the conversation lapse into its familiar silence and let the pidgey and spearow song dance in the air. "Don't mention it," he said, breaking through the song. "Really, don't. I've broken several laws into pieces here and put my job on the line if I don't do some very careful talking to make it look otherwise. Like I said-"

"Thrown to the houndooms." Kiyoko felt a grim smile cross her face. "I know."

The only response that came was bird song and the rhythmic thumps of Shohei's hooves against the leafy ground.

Kiyoko felt Taro's back thump against hers as he let out a dry chuckle. "Only comfort we have is that I left my radio charging back at the booth. Saves me the trouble of having to lie at least." He rubbed his eyes and groaned, thinking of the small box he kept in a vest pocket for emergencies. "I need a cigarette."

He felt her head turn to its side against his back. "You smoke?" she asked, surprised.

"Yeah, but not here. Can't leave anything they could pick up on," he replied. He clicked his tongue and patted his Rapidash's neck. Shohei stopped with a nicker. "We're walking from here until sundown. A stream is up ahead and we're going to use it to lose anyone that's following us." He dismounted and then helped her dismount.

"Another one?" asked Kiyoko. Her legs were sore and her butt had fallen asleep, and the prospect of getting wet on top of it did not do much to lift her spirits. "Where even are we?"

Taro held up Shohei's pokeball and recalled him. "On the way is the easiest way to put it for you." He pulled a compass from his pocket and glanced at it. "From there we can take our time getting to Viridian, as we'll be too far into the woods for any Rangers to bother sweeping for you or I." He set off.

Kiyoko caught up to him. "Wait, so they're not going to bother looking for you?"

Taro shook his head and mumbled, "Wait here." He disappeared into the brush, and she heard twigs snapping and leaves rustling. After a few minutes, he reemerged from a bush behind her, dusting off his hands. "To answer your question, no. They won't bother going too deep into the woods. Their search is part of protocol. If they can't find me within a day or so of searching they have another set of procedures they'll turn to." He set off again and beckoned for her to follow. As they walked, he casually put an arm out to pluck several pecha berries from a bush as he passed it. He offered one to Kiyoko and bit half of another off in his mouth.

"Thanks," she said, taking the berry from him. It wasn't quite as sweet as she was used to. She finished her berry and stared at the back of his head. "Should I be back here? I thought you wanted to keep an eye on me?" It was a half-joke. She was genuinely interested in the change of heart.

"If I was worried you could get anything done behind me I would have you in front." Taro tossed the pit of the berry deep into the forest. "No offense. But, well..." He turned around for a moment and tapped the insignia on his beret and then turned about again. "I'm a Ranger and you're not. You've also got an injured shoulder. Your Bastiodon isn't much use in a forest and your Luxray has broken legs. Stantler might be okay here but it isn't going to outrun a Rapidash."

"And I think my Garchomp wouldn't be too comfortable in trees this dense," she added. "You've made your point." She threw an unseen sullen look at the ground.

"What do you think about what's going on between our regions?" It was out of his mouth before he could really stop himself. Taro swore under his breath. "Don't answer that, nevermind. I'm not opening that discussion."

Kiyoko looked up at his back and caught up to his side. "No, it's fine, you're curious. Who better to ask? Besides, what else are we gonna talk about?"

With a low exhale Taro nodded. "You're not wrong," he said wryly.

"I don't really understand it. I don't think anyone does," she said, tapping her chin. "I mean, a surprising number of the older folk were unhappy about the announcement but also didn't blame Kanto for it. I guess they weren't too happy with the law that got passed in the first place that started all this but-" She sighed. "Who cares? Old legends are taken pretty seriously in Sinnoh, especially if there's proof available to show that there's more to them than just pretty stories. Why would they be against something in a legend that's already happened before?" She shrugged and immediately winced. "Ow, ow, ow." Her hand came to her shoulder. "Okay, I need to not do that." She gave it a careful rub and then continued, "I was happy to hear about people applying the old legends to today. A lot of my friends were, even the ones that didn't-"

Taro did not hear her- he held an arm out and stopped her. "We're at the stream. You're going in front of me in case you slip. We're going to have to march upstream a fair distance so getting completely soaked isn't the best of ideas." He took a swig from his canteen and then offered it to her. "Hold onto it. I've got some iodine tablets so we can just use the creek water after you finish that and the one in your bag if you want."

Kiyoko took it from him and sipped from the canteen. "How far exactly are we supposed to be walking? My feet are already soaked through." She did her best to not sound whiny, though Taro's reaction showed her it wasn't enough.

"You wanted to get to Viridian. We're going to Viridian. As it stands, we should be hurrying. I'm going to need an hour or so to try and track down a Stantler," he called up to her. His eyes passed over her backside. He shook his head and smirked. Completely unprofessional. But nice.

"You're going to hunt a Stantler? Really?" she replied. "Is that a good idea? Isn't your gun too loud?"

"There's nothing I can fish out of this stream; it's too shallow, and the next closest river that isn't the one we came from is too far out to be worth our while. And we're not getting by on nuts and berries alone. You might be able to, but I'd rather have something a bit more substantial," he explained. "Either way, it won't be much of a risk. The forest is dense enough that the sound won't carry far. We won't need much in the way of a campfire either, thanks to Shohei. But that's for later. For now, we keep marching."

Kiyoko groaned.

* * *

Taro pressed a finger to his lips and threw Kiyoko a serious look. Both had pressed their backs against some particularly wide pines - a Stantler stood in a small clearing ahead of them, grazing. He peered around the tree and drew his pistol. Trees towered about the clearing, casting long shadows in the face of the lowering sun. The pleasant smell of pine caught in his nose from a soft breeze blowing somewhere behind him. He brought the gun to bear and took aim at the Stantler's head. A single plea was on repeat in his own head:

Don't raise your head, don't raise your head, don't raise your-

A shot rang out in the forest and left a terrible ringing sound in Kiyoko's ears. Silently cursing her wounded shoulder and its role in keeping her from covering her ears, she glanced around the tree as well and saw the Stantler's body slumped on forest floor.

Taro stood and holstered his pistol. "Caught it in the eye." He didn't sound impressed.

"That's hard to do isn't it?" asked Kiyoko.

He shrugged as he approached the Stantler. "Only when you're aiming for it. I had my sights on its skull, the braincase specifically. So naturally, I got it in the eye." He bent over to pull his knife from his boot and kneeled before his kill to butcher it. He beckoned Kiyoko towards him. "We won't need all of her. A haunch should be plenty for you and I. Whatever we don't eat I can just reheat tomorrow and leave the rest to your...Garchomp, you said it was?"

"Oh!" Kiyoko looked over the Stantler's corpse, eyes lingering on the crater that now lived where its eye once did. Her stomach turned a bit. "Right, yeah, I think he'll be um, happy about it?" She had never fed her Garchomp anything that wasn't typical pokefood. Would he eat it? She watched Taro hack at one of the Stantler's haunches.

Blood seeped out of each cut as Taro did his best to carve a haunch off the dead Pokemon. His knife caught in bones and particularly tough cartilage several times, but after a few minutes of struggling, he successfully separated a sizable haunch from the Stantler. He tossed it off to the side and then plunged his knife into the kill's gut and dragged it across. Viscera spilled out, and with a sick squelching sound, Taro pressed on the Pokemon's side to force more of its intestines out. He cleaned his blade on its fur and sheathed it. He grabbed the haunch and stood up. The blood soaked into the dirt, grass and pine needles made it seem like this creature had been pounced on and devoured. Just as planned.

It was disgusting work to watch, but Kiyoko couldn't quite tear her eyes away. Every movement seemed calculated: his face was set and neither nose nor brow wrinkled over any bit of it. It was, somehow, hypnotic. Somehow, some way, it was captivating.

"Send him out. He can have his fill, we want this to look like a predatory kill, not a hunter's kill. As it stands, Stantler haven't had their protected status removed, though we see more and more of them appearing into Kanto each day." He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I'm getting off track." He turned to face Kiyoko, who had been staring at him, mouth slightly agape, eyes unmoving, almost unblinking. Taro raised an eyebrow. "Kiyoko!" He snapped his fingers. "Send out your Garchomp and have him eat this Stantler."

She shook her head to wave off the stupor that had come over her. "Sorry, I was just thinking something over. Garchomp, uh…" The Pokemon materialized in the clearing and gave an attentive growl. He looked at Kiyoko and then over to Taro. With a low growl of suspicion at Taro, he lowered his body somewhat and fixed his eyes on the Ranger.

"Mind calling him off and getting him to focus on the task at hand?" insisted Taro. His hand hovered over his pistol, and his eyes never left the Garchomp's.

Kiyoko gave her Pokemon a pat on its arm. "Don't growl at him, he's helping us. He even, uh, got you some food," she explained, uncertain and gesturing to the kill. The Garchomp looked away from Taro with another low growl and focused on Kiyoko for a moment before turning about and eyeing the Stantler. Another growl, higher pitched, and inquisitive. "Yeah, that's dinner. No pokefood this time, sorry. Unless you'd rather have some berries or something?"

The Garchomp turned its head to its side, a yellow eye fixed itself upon Kiyoko and widened. With a huff and a very low growl it turned back to the dead Stantler and tore into it. Blood splattered about, chunks of flesh went flying and the loud crunching of bones snapping filled the calm forest air.

Taro shook the haunch in his hand, completely disinterested in the savagery on display, and instead watching for blood to drain from the cut of meat. He sighed and looked over at Kiyoko, who stared at the Garchomp, mouth agape, a strange flush on her face. He strode over and put a hand on her good shoulder. "Kiyoko. You don't have to watch a Stantler get torn apart, you know that, right? I know you have one yourself, you could just look away." His tone was careful, bracing, and apparently, completely silent.

Lips dry, the sensation of a head filled with air and ears stuffed with cotton, Kiyoko turned vaguely towards Taro and stared at him. He shook her. "Kiyoko, are you alright? Are you catching a fever?" He put his hand to her forehead and frowned. "No, you look fine." Was it shock? Confusion? Terror?

Kiyoko turned her head back to her Garchomp. He had turned away from the corpse - now little more than a pair of glinting antlers, lumps of flesh and broken bones, and stared at Kiyoko. Flecks of blood and flesh littered his torso and jaw. With a contented growl, he inclined his head towards her.

Taro shook Kiyoko insistently and said, almost shouting, "Kiyoko. You can recall your Garchomp now."

The noise brought Kiyoko crashing back into reality. With a start, she turned to her Garchomp and recalled it. "Sorry, I was just-"

"You didn't suffer any cuts or something, did you? Is your shoulder throbbing?" asked Taro, brows knit in concern. "You shouldn't be this out of it. Let's get to somewhere we can cook this and get you off your feet." The last thing he needed was her to fall ill - or worse - out here in the woods.

The shadows cast across forest floor lengthened as they walked into the woods, casting much of the forest in an orange glow. The floor around them was trackless, much of the forest seemed as close to pristine as possible, and though they'd grown accustomed to it, the scent of pine hung in air. Taro stopped several times as they traveled, picking berries from bushes and tossing them into an empty pouch at his side. Mostly pecha and, to his dismay, bluk. He threw furtive glances at Kiyoko, who seemed to have overcome the strange mood that had come over her earlier. After half an hour of quiet walking, they came across another clearing. It was much smaller than the last, but it would do. He pointed to a wide tree.

"Sit down over there and drink some water. I'm going to grab some sticks to make a spit and if I can manage to find some peppermint in this light I'll bring some back to make some tea." He looked out into surrounding forest and frowned. It'd be difficult, but not impossible. He tossed a pokeball into the air, and his Rapidash materialized with a whinny, casting a brighter orange glow atop the deeper orange already present. "Shohei, keep her warm. Don't go off looking for berries. Understood?" The Pokemon snorted and turned to look out into another section of the forest. His ears twitched intermittently and his tail swished, but he did not move away from Kiyoko.

Taro pulled a flashlight from his vest and disappeared into the forest.

* * *

Night had fallen proper. A bright orange glow flickered in the clearing, illuminating trees at random, and throwing the faces of the two runaways into the light for brief moments. At times, the fire would snort and nicker, but mostly, it was quiet.

"It's not particularly good, but it's substantial," said Taro, tearing another chunk of his roasted Stantler off, "Then again, I didn't think to pack spices." He threw Kiyoko a serious glare, but the corner of his mouth twitched. The darkness that had fallen around them was somewhat comforting. The Rangers weren't going to look for them in the forest at night.

She looked at him and smiled. "Wow, you know how to joke around?" she said in mock astonishment. "Could have fooled me."

The Ranger rolled his eyes. "A little over half a day's worth of running from the border through thick forest, concealing tracks along the way, bagging a kill on a protected species and leaving its expensive horns on the ground - I have a reason to lighten up at least a little bit. Hayate would be ecstatic in my position."

Kiyoko finished her portion of bouffalant. Convincing herself of this "fact" made it far more palatable and even allowed her to appreciate the flavor. Somewhat anyway, it was a bit too rare for her tastes, though Taro insisted it was perfectly safe to eat.

"Why's that?" she asked.

"Because I've put all the training and retraining and fire exercises and every other last little thing they put us through to use. Never thought I would, so I can't help but feel-" He paused watched Shohei's tail billow and flicker. "Fulfilled, I guess is how I would put it. I don't camp, because my job is essentially camping, without any of the hardship. Or any of the stimulation." He sighed and tore another chunk from his Stantler. "Or much of anything. Hayate and I spend a lot of our time not saying anything to each other."

"That explains why you're so quiet," mused Kiyoko. "I thought you hated me." The fire revealed a sheepish grin for a brief moment before it was eclipsed by darkness again.

"There's not much to talk about really. We're both Kanto born and raised, grew up in Pewter, came from families that pushed us to be Rangers because it's what our fathers and grandfathers did-" He stopped to take a swig from his canteen and eat more Stantler. "We got assigned to our checkpoint because we knew each other and our fathers both put in a word to get us assigned together."

Kiyoko shifted against the tree and took a sip from her own canteen. She wasn't sure she liked peppermint tea, but Taro had insisted she drink it all, sooner or later. "Best friends then?" she asked, tone light and cheerful.

"No." The lack of hesitation should have made him feel at least somewhat bad, or so the look of horror on Kiyoko's face told him, but it didn't. "We were pushed to be together. By our families and histories. Our fathers. Our jobs. We get along. We can laugh together, eat together, train together- but best friends? No. Hayate is a good friend, but the closest I've had to a best friend left for Goldenrod years ago. We keep in contact still, but she's typically busy. And not particularly happy with what's been going on recently." He finished his Stantler. "Johto doesn't take kindly to big brother Kanto being so pushy. Or so she tells me. The brass in Saffron and Goldenrod have been talking nonstop according to her, and Kanto is doing what it always does." He scoffed. "Stubborn to a fault."

"I- I see." She wasn't too sure what else she could say. She chewed her tongue for a moment and then said, "I'm from Sandgem." It sounded ridiculous.

To her surprise, Taro responded, "Really? I don't know much about Sinnoh, what's it like?"

"It's really close to a beach, so there's always a really pleasant cool breeze in the air. Speaking of, the whole town smells like the ocean, which is wonderful. It's never too hot since we're near the water, but it doesn't get cold enough to snow either. Life is pretty laid back there. Everything about the town is pretty laid back, honestly. I caught my Luxray near the town, when he was just a cute little shinx." She smiled, reminiscing, "Made quite a few friends there too. I live with one of them, actually, over in Eterna City. It's where I met my Garchomp. 'Course, he was a gible back then."

"What do you do?" he asked.

"Uhh, well, nothing right now. I was working at a PokeMart for a while, enrolled in classes to study to work at a PokeCenter and then didn't go to my first week of classes because…" She gestured around her. "This happened. Guess I'll go back to working at a Mart for a while and save up again when this is all over." She sighed and then added, "I don't begrudge my grandmother at all for it, just, bad timing, you know? Not that she got a choice."

"No parents?" asked Taro.

Kiyoko raised an eyebrow. "You sure know how to pick friendly, casual questions, Taro." At the look of apology on his face she added with a chuckle, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. They died when I was young. Dad had cancer. Mom had a broken heart." At the look of incomprehension on his face, she added, "My parents were a bit older when they had me and Mom's health was never good anyway. It's why I'm so worried about my grandmother; she's pushing ninety now, and if she's gone, it's just me in this cold, cruel world now." She let out a quiet laugh, breathy and ironic.

"Sorry, this must sound horrible. I don't really think the world is cold and cruel. I made my peace with knowing I won't have any family soon a long time ago. Besides, that's my friends and Pokemon are for. Plus, my parents left me a house. I'm renting it out and that's enough income to split an apartment with my roommate." A sudden thought hit her and she pulled a ball from her belt and held it up to the firelight. "He's not in pain, is he?"

Taro shook himself from the mild shock her entire story had left him with. "Your Luxray? As far as I know, no. But I can't say I've had any experience with these matters." He continued to stare at Kiyoko's shadowed figure. She was curious. Very curious.

Silence fell between the two, punctuated only by the sounds of hoothoots and the occasional noctowl, carried on a gentle wind.

Taro fished about in his vest pocket and removed a bright green box and pulled a cigarette from it. He lit it using Shohei and took a drag, then breathed out a cloud, high, above the three of them.

"Those don't actually smell all that bad," noted Kiyoko.

"Yeah. Hayate tells me they're the girliest brand I could possibly pick, but if I'm going to suck on a small koffing I'd like it to at least smell and taste pleasant," responded Taro. He tossed the box to her.

Kiyoko looked at the box - it had the image of a jumpluff on it. "Jumpluff Cigarettes? Are these a local brand or something? I haven't heard of them." She made a indistinct noise in her throat. "Honestly, I haven't heard of most brands. No one really smokes where I'm from." She opened the box and looked at the thin sticks inside. Red tipping paper flecked with yellow, green rolling paper and they smelled pleasant when not burning too. "What's in them?"

"Dandelion stems and some flowers that burn well. Picked young, the stems taste a bit like honey. It takes the edge off," he replied. He caught the box when she threw it back to him. "They're from Johto, so just a bit more expensive, but not by much." He pulled the cigarette from his mouth and contemplated his unwarranted, though now, not unwanted companion, exhaling slowly.

Friendly. Forthcoming. Genuine. He looked out into the forest and rolled his eyes. Buxom, he admitted to himself. But a Sinnohan. Off-limits. Dangerous. Degenerate.

"We should turn in, we've got a long day ahead of us. With any luck, you'll have two large calluses instead of feet by the end of it. That or stumps." At her groan, he laughed and added, "We can ride Shohei for most of it, don't worry. Now turn in. Floor should be soft enough. Just mind the caterpies." He saw her figure slump over and then did the same. "Shohei," he added in a whisper, "You'll be out for the night to keep us warm. Go to sleep." The rapidash nickered and bowed his head.

He rolled onto his back and looked up at the sky.

Sinnohan. Off-limits. Degenerate. _Attractive._


End file.
